Hanakotoba - Language of Flowers
by BrandonianKnight
Summary: When a pair of flowers suddenly appear on Ino's doorstep, she's left wondering who put them there. Just who is this mysterious person who keeps leaving her messages in the language of flowers...?


**A/N: This is just something that randomly popped into my head; my flower use might be wrong, but I wanted to do something to avoid my impending end-of-term assignments, so I wrote some Naruto thing. Enjoy some sappy flower-related romance.**

* * *

Ino Yamanaka was confused.

At the front of the flower shop was something rather odd.

A Shion plant with a bluebell, with a note saying that it was for her.

When her mother brought it in, she had thought it might have been some joke or something, but that didn't really fit. Why would someone send an out-of-season flower to a flower shop as a joke?

But what confused her most, though, were the meanings of the flowers.

"Thank you; I won't forget you," she said softly, her finger softly tracing the edges of the purple flower. "Who are you…?"

That was the first time she got a flower from her mysterious new friend.

It wasn't the last.

She spent the next few days going around and asking her friends if they sent it, only for no one to admit to it. Sakura promised that she'd ask around as well, but it didn't seem to be doing much.

After a while, her father asked if she wanted his help finding this mysterious person, but she turned him down. She was curious, but she wanted to figure it out without relying on him.

So that's why she placed a honeysuckle, a pansy, and her new bluebell at the front window of the store.

This way, he'd definitely see it and get her message.

 _"Thank you for your thoughtful gift."_

Sure enough, he did.

* * *

The next day, another set of flowers arrived, brought in by Ino's mother, who had a knowing smile on her face.

A pink rose, a white poppy, and a dahlia.

 _"I am glad you liked the gifts,"_ the flowers said. _"You have good taste."_

Ino smiled widely; her mother wouldn't stop teasing her for hours about her blush.

Besides, it's not like she knew _why_ she was so excited to hear back!

She just… _Was_.

The white chrysanthemum; the pink carnation; the spider-lily; the white camellia.

"You seem quite interested in me. I await the truth."

Now, more than ever, she was really curious over who was sending these flowers.

* * *

"An Erica, a daffodil, and a daisy this time?"

When Ino heard her mother's voice, she leapt over the counter and looked at the flowers.

"You have quite the admirer," her mother continued. "Have you found out who it is?"

"No, not yet," Ino admitted. "But I think I'm onto something."

"Well, good luck with that," she responded. " 'Have faith, and respect my solitude,' he says. I don't think he's interested in telling you just yet."

"Oh, I'm sure he's just playing hard to get," Ino said, waving her off. "I'll get to the bottom of this in no time!"

"What will your response be?"

"Hmm…" Ino paused in thought. "A freesia, a violet, and a poppy."

" 'You are acting childish, but this is fun; be honest'?"

Ino nodded.

"That sounds about right, but…" She paused again. "Do you think it's too blunt? I don't want to come off as mean."

"Say what you mean, Ino," her mother said calmly. "If it comes from the heart, there should be no problem conveying your thoughts."

"…Heh. Thanks, mom."

She hugged her mother tightly for a moment before rushing off to grab the flowers.

"…She is much like we were, isn't she, Inoichi?"

"I don't remember being that excitable," her husband replied with a shrug. "But the interesting thing is that even _I_ haven't been able to figure out who it is. I thought I'd catch him delivering something today, but he just had it delivered."

She swatted him lightly across the arm, frowning slightly.

"Don't go jeopardizing this, Inoichi," she warned him. "She will find out his identity when she finds out, _on her own_ , and you will let her do it."

He frowned, before nodding with a sigh.

"Alright. But if you do see anything-"

"I will tell you nothing," she said with a huff. "I can't trust you not to investigate further; your 'little flower' can protect herself, you know."

"I know…"

Inoichi shook his head, looking to the back of the shop where Ino was.

"…I'm still worried."

"And nothing in the Nations can stop you from being so; Heaven knows _I've_ tried."

* * *

This dialogue between Ino and her mysterious pen-pal went on for some time, with the flowers she received always finding themselves in a little garden near the back of the shop.

There was a large part of her that desperately wanted to meet him, but another part was whispering in the back of her mind.

" _What if he's nothing like I think he is?"_

" _What if I'm raising my expectations of him too high?"_

" _What if_ he's _raising_ his _expectations too high?"_

" _What if he's not even a_ he _at all!?"_

She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind, but she had trouble doing so. However, as time went on, they were pushed out by another, much louder thought.

" _Did something happen to him?"_

It had been three weeks, and nothing.

Not a single plant, flower, or even petal had appeared at her doorstep.

Did he lose interest?

Is he hurt?

Did he leave for somewhere else...?

Did he forget…?

It was when she thought that last thought that she realized how ridiculous she was being.

The very first flower he sent, the Shion, said that he would always remember her.

So she'll just place her faith in him, whoever he may be.

He'll say something again eventually, right?

All she had to do was wait.

* * *

It was another two weeks before it came, but when the bell rang, Ino was already there.

She'd been just about ready to leave and close the shop behind her; there weren't any deliveries that came at this time, so it had to be…

Lavender and a lotus, intertwined; beside them, another Shion and a morning glory.

Her heart swelled, then, as she saw them.

"Though I may have been far from you, I remain faithful; I will not forget my promise."

She looked around, hoping to see the person who had rung her bell mere moments ago, but the streets were empty. Aside from the wind, there was not a sound to be heard.

She crouched down, touching the flowers softly, her fingers tracing their forms.

She brought the flowers in carefully, holding them close to her chest as she did.

He had not forgotten her.

She didn't know why that made her so happy, why it felt like there were butterflies in her stomach, but it did.

She could hardly wait for the next message.

* * *

Days passed, then weeks; months of messages, passed along by the petals and stems of plants and flowers.

However, one day, there was no elaborate arrangement that imparted many meanings.

There were only two flowers; a pair that did not make a statement, but ask a question.

A single yellow tulip; the sign of a one-sided love.

A single red rose; the sign of a love returned.

She didn't know how long she was staring at them, but she was only broken from her trance when her father's hand began to rest on her shoulder.

"The chrysanthemum," she whispered softly. "White."

Truth.

She needed the truth.

He wordlessly moved to grab one quickly, and when he returned, she still hadn't moved.

One moment passed, then two, and then a third; finally, she slowly took the flower and placed it in front of the house, held still by the doormat, and moved quickly inside.

Barely a moment had passed before she came back, a piece of paper in hand with only three words on it.

"Third Training Ground."

Her heart was racing, running faster than it ever had; faster than on any mission; faster than in any fight.

She didn't sleep that night; she was too anxious, her mind running through thousands and thousands of ideas, each of them more ridiculous than the last, yet she couldn't tell herself that any were impossible, despite the fact that they simply were.

However, while didn't sleep at night, she was surprised with herself when she realized she'd slept through most of the morning.

She moved quickly from her home to the flower shop, running with speed greater than she thought she even had.

She passed Sakura, who looked surprised, and she almost knocked over Shikamaru and Choji when she passed them; Kiba really did get knocked over, which she kinda felt bad about.

However, when she saw the flower in front of the shop, held in her mother's hand, her heart felt like it would burst, and she began to slow down.

A single zinnia.

Loyalty.

"I promise."

The words had scarcely left her mouth before she was gone again.

He was waiting for her.

He was waiting for _her!_

As she ran, she wasn't sure what to expect when she got there. There were just too many possibilities, too many variables, too many things that could just be so different from what she thought.

However, even in the wildest things she'd imagined, this was never something that appeared.

All around the training ground were Thunberg's bushclover in full bloom; the same plant used in the Yamanaka family's symbol.

The brilliant purple flowers represented a sort of 'positive love,' shared between people.

There, near the lake, he was sitting there, toying with her white chrysanthemum.

She wasn't sure who she was expecting at first, but looking at him from behind, she suddenly realized that she didn't care.

She fell for a man that she only knew through flowers on her doorstep; who she thought he was before hardly mattered now.

She walked softly, but he could still seem to hear her. He turned to her, and she could read him like a book, because he was feeling the same way she was.

He was nervous, a little scared, and his heart was beating a mile-a-minute.

Seeing that, she couldn't help but smile, and he did the same.

It wasn't something that she expected…

But it was definitely something that neither would _ever_ forget.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, this was a thing. It's a little short for my tastes, but now it's done. Hopefully, you enjoyed this; it was my first time trying to do something like romance. I don't plan on making it a habit, but I did enjoy it myself.**

 **I'd like it if you left a review telling me what you did and didn't like about this, since I'm pretty new to this style of writing; just don't leave a review asking about The Jump. Heavy mental roadblock there, but I'm trying to write something on it.**

 **Feel free to imagine that the male character is anyone you like, and that the first flowers were sent for whatever reason you feel fits. I left it open for interpretation just because I felt like I could.**

 **Lastly, if you're the kind of person who doesn't actually** _ **want**_ **to imagine whichever dude they like in the place of the nameless guy and just want to know who _I_ think it is, then I'll say it simply: Look through the first author's note and look for the proper noun. That's who I imagined. Also, I have no idea what he would be grateful to her for, so... Yeah.**

 **Anyway, that's just my opinion, and if you don't want to know, feel free to just not look. My need to write something has been fulfilled, and I can now go back to pretending like I'm not freaking out over my looming math final. Exponential and logarithmic functions, _ho!_**


End file.
